68 Being Rivals Is Also Good

The constant sound of pencil hitting paper permeated the quiet room. All the examinees had serious expressions as they shaded their choices on their answer sheets. Kate answered each question in a calm manner. The things she studied were flowing smoothly inside her mind and before she knew it, she had already finished the exam.

She was not in a hurry like last time so she decided to double check her answers. Stella nodded in approval from inside their shared mindscape. During the test, she didn't say anything and just watched Kate's progress.

It took her five minutes to go through everything. After she finished double checking her answer sheet, Kate asked Stella if she could hand over her answer sheet to the School Dean.

[Before you hand that paper over it would be best if you write your name in first,] Stella teased Kate from inside the mindscape. [Silly girl, you were so focused on answering the questions that you forgot to write your name. Even if you get a perfect score, without a name, you will still fail this exam.]

Kate's eyes widened as she looked at the top left corner of her test paper where her name should be written. It was blank. The glutton started to sweat buckets. She felt like slapping herself silly for forgetting something so basic.

If Stella wasn't with her, wouldn't she find herself in big trouble? After all, this was her last chance.

'Thank you, Stella,' Kate said. 'That was a very close call.'

[Mmm,] Stella replied. [Make sure to remember this lesson.]

Kate wrote her name on the answer sheet. Her penmanship was good and even Ciel praised her for it. After making sure that everything was in order, she stood up from her seat and handed the paper to the School Dean.

Noah accepted her answer sheet and gave it a brief glance. Seeing nothing wrong he told Kate to return to her seat and wait until the duration of the test was over.

Half of the examinees had already handed in their answer sheets to Noah. This included Ethan and Stephen. They watched as Kate returned to her seat with a smile. Since the School Dean was here, they didn't dare to be noisy. Ethan gave Kate a thumbs up, while Stephen winked at her.

Kate nodded her head in their direction. She too wanted to talk to the two of them, but others were still taking the exam. It would be inappropriate behavior to disturb their concentration, so she just sat on her seat and closed her eyes.

Stella told her to meditate to clear her mind from excess thoughts. She wanted Kate to be in peak condition for the next test. Ethan and Stephen were paying close attention to her. They finished their exams before Kate. Seeing that Kate looked confident when she passed the paper, they were able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Ethan admired Kate's sitting posture. The girl was sitting straight with her back lightly resting on the chair for support. She had her eyes closed and her breathing was calm and steady. Usually, he would be silently admiring Kate, but today was different.

There was an annoying pest that was doing the same and it made the corner of his lips twitch!

Stephen gave Ethan the 'what-are-you-looking-at?' glare. It annoyed him that there was a person that had set his eyes on Kate and the girl seemed oblivious about it. What's more, based on Ethan's words, the two of them had known each other for a while. The devilish prince felt envious of Ethan because he had an early start in forming a relationship with Kate.

'It's fine, there's still time,' Ethan thought. 'If Kate passed the exam, I'll ask father to place me in the same room as her. That would give me plenty of opportunity to get to know her better.'

A mischievous smirk appeared on Stephen's face as he gave Ethan a smug face. 'I'll also tell father to send this bastard as far away from our room as possible. I don't like stinky bugs hovering around Kate.'

Ethan noticed Stephen's smirk and knew that the bastard was up to no good. 'I'd better tell father to pull some strings to ensure that I will be in the same room as Kate. I can't leave her alone with this no-good-person!'

Two hours passed by ever so swiftly.

Kate was currently answering the last exam of the day. It was Math. It was also the subject responsible for failing ninety-nine percent of the aspiring scholarship students in Saint Claire Academy.

Stella narrowed her eyes as Kate started to solve the formulas one by one. She was paying close attention to Kate's answers. Her brows furrowed when Kate shaded the wrong answers in her answer sheet, but she didn't stop her from doing so.

Since Kate had agreed to her condition, she planned to correct some of her mistakes before Kate handed over the test paper to the School Dean. For now, she remained quiet and allowed Kate to answer using her own ability.

Stella wanted Kate to be confident in herself. This is the reason why she didn't forcefully take over her body while taking the exam.

Noah was observing his son, Kate, and the boy seated beside her. He already checked the seating arrangement and knew of the boy's identity.

'Ethan Kerr,' Noah mused. 'Cedric, you managed to raise a good child.'

Cedric Kerr, Ethan's father, was a good friend of Noah's. The two of them had instantly hit it off when they were still studying in the academy. It was quite unfortunate that both of them became busy after graduation and they found less time to visit each other. Nevertheless, they didn't forget to give each other a call whenever they had time.

With one glance, Noah understood that Ethan liked Kate. He also saw how his son was looking at the boy with irritation and it made him chuckle silently. It was the first time his son reacted this strongly to other people. He hoped that the two of them would become good friends just like he and Cedric were.

'Being rivals is also good.' Noah smiled as he gazed at his son's irritated expression. His son whom he thought would never be interested in the opposite sex, was now being over protective. Noah nodded his head in understanding because he too felt the same when he was younger.

'Grow up to be an outstanding individual, Stephen. There's more to life than gray skies and rainy days.'

Noah checked the time in his pocket watch. The test was almost at its end and he was curious to see whether the girl he had set his eyes on managed to succeed this time around. He sincerely hoped that Kate passed the exam. That way, his son would have something to look forward to every day.